Wilhelm and Grete Pollak were born into the Jewish family of Phillip and Friederike Pollak (née Wittmann) in Vienna. Friederike Pollak was a self-employed dressmaker. Wilhelm Pollak was imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp in June 1938 and was later transferred to Buchenwald where he stayed until April 1939. He emigrated to England in May 1939 and stayed at various internment camps, including camps in Canada in 1940. He enlisted with the British Army in 1940 and returned to England after the war in 1946. His parents perished in the Holocaust. Wilhelm later got married to Cecile Solley. They had a daughter, Jennifer, in 1947.
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This collection consists of the personal papers of Wilhelm Pollak, a Jewish refugee from Vienna who was forced to emigrate in 1939 after his release from Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. Personal papers including correspondence and diary entries (including summarised translations) concerning Pollak's imprisonment, arrangements for his emigration to England and his stay at various internment camps. Also included are photocopies of inventories of Phillip and Friederike Pollak's property in Vienna.
Wilhelm Pollak: personal papers